B-SCAN with Matthew Dallman

B-SCAN is a series of interviews with bloggers who include blogging as part of their integral transformative practice, and those who are "consciously" aware of the impact of blogging on self, culture, and nature, "integrally informed" or otherwise.

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Matthew Dallman is a composer, author, poet, independent scholar, and teacher. He has released several albums of original compositions, and composes for independent films. Matthew's approach is to compose for social, serious, and sacred music settings, through use of funk, fugue, and flash sonic structures. His primary instrument is his voice and his Spanish, nylon-string acoustic guitar. His music has been performed in various venues in Milwaukee, St. Louis, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Boston, New York City, Boulder, and Chicago. He blogs his heart and mind at the Daily Goose and Momentary-I.

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*** Why blog? How did you get started with blogging?

Always a good question, 'why do I do this?' There are several reasons, but the primary one is that I blog as a means for expression. I have two blogs. One for words and pictures (The Daily Goose), and one for musical examples of my composition (Momentary I). The music blog is an easy way to share my ongoing composition work. A slightly more complicated reason for the music blog is that I use it to plant seeds of little melodic or rhythmic ideas, under a minute long, which I have later developed into more extended compositions. So I plant seeds in Momentary I. Same goes for The Daily Goose, but I usually write more extended thoughts, commentaries, and opinions on various issues in the art world, from artist consciousness to artwork production to art institutions to art interpretation.

There is a lot to talk about, obviously, and my thoughts on these matter could not possibly be expressed all at once (even if my thoughts are indeed sometimes simultaneous). So the blog format is really perfect for incremental expression, and to do so for an audience, as my blog luckily has, is a blessing. I have said it before but I'll say it again - my blog would not be possible without its readers and the feedback I get from readers.

And that is how I started to blog - as a way to catalog and express my thoughts, and to do so with others in an open format that is egalitarian at its core. I had participated in various online threaded discussion forums, so it was an easy transfer from that format to my own blog. Blogger.com is so user-friendly, I was able to figure out how to use its features while still able to present my blog seemlessly on my own site.

My favorite blog, by the way, was and remains to be AndrewSullivan.com, and in many ways I have modelled aspects of my blogging after his site's example. His blog site is truly unparalled, and an inspiration for heartfelt writing on a variety of topics, all with an independent, almost maverick, spirit - which aligns with my own intentions.

*** How much time do you spend writing on your blog?

There is an ebb and flow to my blog work. Sometimes it is four times a day, sometimes it is four times a week. There have been a couple stretches where it was, sadly, only four times a month. As a composer, independent scholar, husband, real estate investor, I have a lot of places to hang my hat. I do find that when I blog, there is a sense of relaxation and resonance that brings me back to it so often. All is right in the world when I have written a good blog entry for the day.

One interesting phenonema, which is another reason why I blog, is that sometimes I get on such a riff in a particular entry that I end up with a new article or essay. I self-publish a substantial portion of my written work on my website. Many essays on my Writings page are simply blog entries that got too long for the Daily Goose, and somehow were coherant enough to be its own whole piece! How and when this happens is a mystery, and I certainly do not plan it. But it is a wonderful benefit of the blog format, to allow for the sponteneous spirit of the written word to expand upon its first emergence in my awareness.

*** How much time do you spend reading other blogs?

I usually spend about 30-60 minutes a day on other folks' blogs. In addition to AndrewSullivan.com, I read your blogs, which are great, as well as the blogs of Mickey Kaus, Victoria Lansford, Matt Rentschler, Stuart Davis, Fuad Ahmed, Instapundit, James Lileks, Terry Treachout, The Drinking Hole (which I created and contributed to), and more.

Of course, the original blogger, as far as I am concerned, is Camile Paglia. Her columns for Salon.com in the late 1990s are all classic, and function as a blog of today would. I often go back and read those columns, because hers is one of the most brilliant, evocative, and engaging written voices out there.

*** Do you think blogging is an artform, or just another fad?

Definitely not a fad exclusively, and it sometimes reaches the heights of art. Now, I mean several things by that. Blogs can be primarily either written/prosaic art or performance art. In other words, there are some blogs that have truly great writers, and there are some blogs where the writing is deemphasized in favor of an emphasis on iconographic, comic, visual, or editorial innovation.

On the journalistic front, blogs have had a big effect on mainstream journalism. The rate at which blogs can post information, correct any errors, and disperse information often puts traditional journalism to shame. You can ask Dan Rather whether blogs have effected his line of work -- it was bloggers who exposed the forged documents about President Bush's duty in the air force back in the day. Without blogs, it is likely that Rather's reports would have gone unchallenged. Of course, Rather admitted on the air, eventually, that the documents were not authentic. So there you go. Blogs can be both a corrective as well as genuine news outlets.

*** How did you get started with Integral Theory?

I got started through immersion in the philosophical treatises of Ken Wilber, in his 20+ books, all of which I own and read constantly. At the time (seven years ago), I was in search of an opportunity to think and write scholarship at the graduate school level. I did not find a suitable program, so I created my own. I specifically developed an application of Wilber's theories to the art world, which is work that is still ongoing.

*** Do you consciously apply Integral Theory to your blogging?

It is not so conscious, but I would say that Integral has had a subtle effect. Mind you, with the Daily Goose, I like to just let 'er rip. I do a lot of thinking and academic researching, so the Daily Goose is a chance for me to pop my head above water and relay in brief terms what I have found. I write about most mediums of art, and attempt to connect the majors public figures, theorists, thinkers, and schools of thought in the various mediums of art. Thus my academic work, in my writing of articles, essays, and books, naturally is expressed in the Daily Goose.

And in general, when I write I try to express my intentions as best I grok 'em, and do so in high-quality and effective prose, in a way that is suitable for the forum (my blog), and in ways that people hopefully will relate with, according to the various ways people view the world, and might view my writing. Thus integral theory has an effect on my 'blog semiotic'.

*** I'm a regular reader of your Daily Goose Blog and I notice that some of your writings are theoretical and philosophical. What kinds of feedback do you get from your readers regarding the topics of your writing?

Well, I am happy to say that the feedback from my readers is across the board supportive, and often extremely interesting. Of course, I am only one man, with one man's perspective, so the larger issues that I touch on in the Daily Goose are fundamentally collaborative and interdependent. All of my written work has been fortunate enough to receive feedback from my readers. The work that has seemed to receive the most is my work on integral music. While I put my heart into everything I write, naturally since I am a musician and composer, my heart might beat just a bit stronger when I muse about sound.

*** What types of audiences do you want to reach?

Well, anyone, of course! I put no bounds or lines around the folks that I would prefer to read my work. Who would? It is part of my own self-challenge to be able to write and compose so as to be comprehensible to as many folks as I can. Now, much of my particularly scholarly and philosophic writing tends to attract scholar-artists. These sorts of folks, like myself, are working artists who also dig the academic sides of art. There is a long tradition of scholar-artists throughout history, so we are in plenty good company, and we have a lot to live up to.

*** Do you think blogging can be an effective addition to one's Integral Practice?

Sure, and so can poker. No joke. The skills to learn to pace oneself, to be flexible, to assess a situation quickly and act with a stake in the result, to win big, to lose big, to know when to hold 'em and fold 'em -- all good life skills packed into that little game of poker.

The same sort of thing goes with blogging as part of a more conscious and engaged life. There are many questions you can reflect upon when you blog. Such as, "am I authentic to myself?", "have I considered all the perspectives?", "have I framed this section in the most coherant and snappy manner?", "what kind of perspective can I offer to the world that is helpful and moral?", "how has my perspective changed or shifted?". These sorts of questions are not meant to bring about analysis paralysis. The point of blogging is always to write! The point is that the occassion of blogging can be a focus point for larger, open-ended self reflection and inquiry.

*** Is the practice of blogging transforming you in anyway?

I don't know. I don't get quite that self-analytical. I know that on strict language grounds, the Daily Goose has helped me to write learer, to make my points quicker, to be lighter, and to write more expansively.

*** In what ways do you think blogging is currently affecting the cyber-culture?

Blogging has helped fill cyber-culture with a more vibrant culture of perspectives from folks from around the world. The blogosphere is a reflection of pluralism. Diverse opinions are right in front of our eyes. Take the Iraq war - both soldiers and Iraqi citizens have blogs, and by the means of blogs, we can understand these perspectives in ways not possible in standard media.

*** How will you think blogs will evolve in the future?

More bells and whistles. And I think the larger media structure will come to be an operative reflection of the blog. That which swallows becomes the swallowed, so to speak.

*** What do you plan to accomplish with your blog site? Do you see yourself blogging in months or years to come?

For the foreseeable future, I will blog blog blog. The Daily Goose is an outlet for my writing. My entire website is a kind of blog -- some content changes daily, some is static. My website itself is my own personal art project, multimedia-based and ever in flux. I will add certain features as I become aware of them. For example, I recently embedded my MP3 files in my music blog, so that when people come to that page, their computer immediately plays the current blog entry. I just hope that as I continue to add content and expand my own perspective as reflected in my blog, that my readership continues to grow. I am lucky for every one of my readers, and my work is to offer worthwhile and useful content through my writing and my music. That part of it is straightforward and simple. Strive for quality.